Arcos Dorados Comércio de Alimentos Ltda: McBot

Campaign Summary

McDonald’s created an innovative, real-time relationship experience with consumers at the chain during meals called McBot. Using the chatbot from Facebook Messenger, Arcos Dourados Comercio de Alimentos Ltda, a company that operates the McDonald's restaurant franchise in Brazil, developed an extensive platform that awarded the user with a coupon. This flowchart became the base for the development of the AI that sustained the dialogues via SMS, video and audio, with a very natural language. This generated over 9 million interactions during the first 10 days.

The execution took place as a test in 50 restaurants in Sao Paulo, and organically obtained astronomical numbers in the first week alone. This was then utilized within 907 restaurants all over Brazil.

Strategy

Objective and Context:

If it isn’t possible to compete with smartphones, the best thing is to join them. Millennials use cell phones as an extension of their bodies. McDonald’s strategy was to create a content platform in partnership with Facebook to resume the dialogue around the tables at the restaurants.

Target Audience:

McDonald’s created a social platform for entertainment, as a way to stir conversations with users. By using a Facebook Messenger bot, the brand created a series of immersive experiences where the user, by synchronizing the tray liner with Facebook Messenger, was invited to play a series of games in the format of board games. McBot also shared links, videos, and audio messages to maintain a natural dialogue with consumers and their friends.

Creative Strategy:

For over 20 years in Brazil, the tray liner in McDonald’s was the main channel of communication between the brand and its consumers. Every month, 14 million tray liners are printed, containing games, curiosities, tips about life, general knowledge, and special editions for the World Cup and the Olympics.

However, with the arrival of smartphones, these tray liners were not so interesting anymore to consumers the way they were in the 90s. For this reason, the challenge was to use technology to resume the conversation with consumers around the table, offering a more enjoyable and fun meal for those who go to McDonald’s.

Execution

Overall Campaign Execution:

McDonald’s innovated by creating a new, real time relationship experience with consumers at McDonald’s during meals. The execution took place as a test in 50 restaurants in Sao Paulo, and organically obtained astronomical numbers in the first week alone. This was then used in 907 restaurants all over Brazil.

Mobile:

In a nutshell, McBot gave new meaning to 9 million tray liners. The campaign became a proprietary media tool capable of generating 31 thousand of coupons the first 10 days alone. Through the technology of the Facebook Messenger bot, people talked to the bot on their smartphones using the scan code on the tray liner to synchronize their social profile to McBot.

Results (including context, evaluation, and market impact)

In general, people interacted with the bot for five minutes, and 42.7 percent of people who played the game reached the end of the challenges. In only seven days, 175,000 unique users interacted with the bot, and over 30,000 coupons were generated. In addition, 27.91 percent of the tray liners were activated.

Facebook became more than an interactive platform for friends, but a platform that allowed consumers to enjoy their meals more.

About

The MMA is the world’s leading global non-profit trade association comprised of more than 800 member companies, from nearly fifty countries around the world. MMA Member companies hail from every faction of the mobile media ecosystem. Our consortium includes brand marketers, agencies, enabling technologies, media companies and others. The MMA’s mission is to accelerate the transformation and innovation of marketing through mobile, driving business growth with closer and stronger consumer engagement.